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The Legal Services Board yesterday approved the Council for Licensed Conveyancers’ application to become the first licensing authority for alternative business structures, despite the opposition of the Lord Chief Justice.

The Solicitors Regulation Authority’s application to become a licensing body for alternative business structures has been endorsed by the Legal Services Board’s consumer watchdog, but with reservations. The Legal Services Consumer Panel expressed disappointment that some recommendations it made during consultations were not adopted.

In the end, the Bar Standards Board probably didn’t have much of a choice but to become a regulator of advocacy focused alternative business structures. Without it, barristers and chambers that wanted to practise in new ways would have been forced to go off and find a new regulator – most likely the Solicitors Regulation Authority.

The Bar Standards Board is to regulate advocacy focused alternative business structures and allow barristers to conduct litigation, its board decided yesterday. However, it has placed significant restrictions on the range of entities it is prepared to regulate.

More than three-quarters of law firms have changed their plans to reflect the coming of alternative business structures, but firms seeking to attract investors will have to develop credible growth strategies. Neil Kinsella, managing partner of Russell Jones & Walker, said his firm had already begun to draw up a list of potential law firm acquisitions.